Would you buy this warranty? I can’t figure out if it’s worth it

[zophi]

Recently I bought a new car and I’ve got 2 weeks left to decide if I want to buy the garage’s 3 year warranty. Car is several years old, Ford and has 10,000 miles on it so v low mileage.

If I bought this warranty it would cover the whole cost of some things if they went wrong, mechanically or electrically

It would not cover: brakes, clutches, tyres or general wear and tear

It’s either £900 upfront (or just over £100 a month for 9 months) and that would cover for me 3 years.

I know parts are expensive and labour costs are high currently, but I don’t know what to do here. Might never need it, but if I did the repair could be huge. If it makes a difference we’re TTC so it might also be nice to know that if anything goes wrong with my car while I’m on mat leave it’ll be covered!

What dyou all think? Worth it or no?

Car warranties seem to exclude far more than they include and they usually claim fair wear and tear on virtually everything. I wouldn't bother personally.

We recently bought a pretty comprehensive warranty from RAC (roughly £50/month) and it's been worth it. Car is 4 years old with not too much mileage on it, but it gets exposed to rugged rural roads so the suspension and tyres take a beating. We'll be renewing the warranty again when it expires.

Didn’t know you could buy it from the RAC. Might look into that instead.

Honesty keep the 900£ and save it. Extended Warranty often don’t cover what they claim to cover.

As previous posters have said, these warranties exclude more than they include. I would put the £900 in the bank and add a little to it each month to cover any unforeseen car repair costs.

I've had my (now 15 years old) Focus for 12 years and aside from the costs of an MOT and Service each year, it's probably cost me £250 max across all 12 years. If that. Including any works identified during MOTs

I do a sort of self-warranty by putting money in a Monzo pot every month for my car. Work out the cost of insurance, MOT and tax, divide by 12 and then stick £25 on and put that in a pot each month. It’s painless and makes paying out for tyres and repairs a lot less stressful. I wouldn’t expect anything major to go wrong with a Ford with 10000 miles on it.

Warranties like that tend to have a disclaimer that all servicing and maintenance have to be carried out by them or it invalidates the warranty. They then usually charge an arm and a leg for regular servicing that you could get done far cheaper elsewhere.

I'd be inclined to say it is not worth it.

Oh no way didn’t know that! Eek

I wouldn’t, given the age and low mileage. I’m also an optimistic person so I tend to think everything will be ok 😂

Thank you! This is true

In my 49 years of driving I've never bought an extended warranty, they are never value for money.

Just make sure you get the car serviced regularly, do your own daily/weekly checks etc. as well.

For servicing I use a local garage, have done for years and over several cars. Always costs less than a stealership, friendlier service, can generally get my car booked in when it suits me not the dealer.

I change my car every three/four years as I get a car allowance and this is one of the requirements. the one at the moment is a 22 plate. Still get it serviced locally. As long as the garage is VAT registered and complies with manufacturer requirements on parts etc. then the warranty is good.

My wife's car is a 12 plate and we still have it serviced as per the handbook. Bit overkill I suppose, but happy knowing things are checked/changed regularly (I'm too long in the tooth to mess about with oil and filter changes etc.)

Take that £900 and bank it. Good to have a fall-back sum.